Found out today that Blackpool is capable of handling a 757. I did a quick photo search and there's only the one photo of a First Choice 757 parked up. What airlines operated the 757 in/out of Blackpool (I've never seen one come in during the time I've been there) and are there any photos? I imagine that's one hell of a landing!

Quoting PlymSpotter (Reply 1):757-200s are/have been used from a number of short runways. JER, IOM and SEN in the UK come to mind.

Dan

I wonder how far they go though, I imagine they don't go out fully loaded, although I know the 757 is a great short field aircraft I wonder how they taxi/park them - the length of them would block the taxiway at Blackpool when parked (I imagine) and the taxiways aren't that wide either!

Quoting planejamie (Thread starter):What airlines operated the 757 in/out of Blackpool (I've never seen one come in during the time I've been there) and are there any photos?

Before Jet2 came to the airport (prior to 2005/6), there was a small programme of charter flights by Thomson Holidays. In the winter, it was Air Europa 738s to TFS and in the summer it was Britannia Airways 752s to ALC. Both operated once weekly, with the BY flight on W pattern from a UK base. First Choice also had a charter flight to either ALC or PMI (can't remember) for one season and I think they used 752s.

I believe Icelandair also had a few one off charters from BLK to REK, operating 752s.

I don't think there are any photos in the database. I do know photos existed on Blackpool Airport spotters website, which closed down a few years ago. The Blackpool Airport yahoo group may have some there.

Thanks for the information - I had heard about charters to Iceland but I wasn't aware of Icelandair operating them (I assumed it was one of the charter airlines in the UK like Monarch or First Choice). Do you happen to have a link to the yahoo group?

I would love to see a 757 back at BLK again (maybe after they've resurfaced the taxiway and the airport isn't operating slot times...) I did get to see a BD ERJ135 come in on a football charter (bringing Arsenal in I think).

Also, a friend of mine who recently flew out of BLK said that he spotted an empty BA check in desk or some desk associated with them in the terminal, as far as I'm aware BA never have (and don't plan to) operate there, does anyone have any info on that?

Quoting planejamie (Reply 4):Also, a friend of mine who recently flew out of BLK said that he spotted an empty BA check in desk or some desk associated with them in the terminal, as far as I'm aware BA never have (and don't plan to) operate there, does anyone have any info on that?

No, there aren't any BA desks or signs in the terminal, your friend must be mistaken.

I am almost certain that BA themselves have never operated any scheduled services out of BLK, however Manx Airlines did serve BLK-IOM for a long period of time and they became a BA franchisee at some point in the '90s. I don't know all that much about the exact services before 2000, so I don't know whether or not they served BLK using the BA brand for a few years.

I've not been in the actual terminal for a while (I fly out as a PPL student regularly), but last time I was in there I didn't spot a desk so I thought it may have been a new addition or something - he might have not looked properly (he's not really an aviation geek he just spotted it and thought I'd be interested).